Editor’s Note: Let’s Talk About Smart Homes – SecurityInfoWatch

Disruptive technology seems to have become just a part of life and doing business in the residential security market; thus, it makes good business sense to stay abreast of the many changes in the technology landscape.

To kick off the educational programs at the upcoming Electronic Security Expo (ESX) in Nashville, a distinguished expert panel will delve deeper into the technologies and trends that are powering these changes at the OpenXchange breakfast, on June 14 at 8:45 a.m.

Attendees will hear from a group of panelists that includes representatives from Honeywell, Allegion, SkyBell and IFTTT – which will offer advice on finding new ways to adapt and evolve in the fast-changing and competitive landscape of the electronic security and life safety industry.

SD&I and SecurityInfoWatch.com have been the media sponsor for this annual event for several years, and we are proud to do so once again.

The scheduled panelists are: Scott Harkins, Vice President of Honeywell Connected Home; Robert C. Martens, futurist and Vice President of Strategy and Partnerships at Allegion; Andrew Thomas, Co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer at SkyBell; and Justin Wong, Vice President of Business Development at IFTTT.

Harkins will address the proliferation of startups and new business models that are targeting the professional security industries’ RMR streams. “I understand the business models and everyday business challenges,” Harkins says, “and also recognize that market trends are changing consumer dynamics and thus changing the security landscape.”

It should be interesting to hear from the IFTTT perspective as well. As most of us should know by now, IFTTT stands for “If This Then That” – and it is one of the cornerstones of residential and Internet of Things technology integration. IFTTT is a web-based service that enables users to create chains of simple conditional statements, called “recipes,” which are triggered based on changes to other web services such as Gmail or Facebook. Without IFTTT, one of the fastest-growing trends in the smart home market – voice integration – could not exist.

“It is clear that users expect more from these devices and their apps,” Wong says. “It is not enough to have a security system that is connected to the Internet – it needs to use that connection to allow customization, new use cases and new functionality.”

SkyBell launched back in 2015 as the first HD-quality video doorbell that supported full-color night vision. Since then, products like the SkyBell have signaled the huge push of video surveillance into the residential security market, as users saw first-hand how easy it was to incorporate the technology at their front doors.

Thomas plans to address these camera-based trends, including monitoring and artificial intelligence. Add in the overall residential security expertise of Honeywell and the access control expertise of Allegion, and it should be a rousing discussion worthy of its status as the opening to the show. In the end, the take-away for dealers should be the knowledge they need to stay ahead of the curve in the residential security and monitoring market. “So many folks in home security are missing the boat on the smart home wave,” Thomas says.

Obviously, you don’t want to be one of those people!

The OpenXchange Breakfast, sponsored by Qolsys, will be moderated by ESX Chairman George De Marco. To learn more about the show and to explore the full schedule of education, networking, training and Expo sessions, visit: www.esxweb.com.

Paul Rothman is Editor in Chief of Security Dealer & Integrator (SD&I) magazine. Access the current issue, archives and subscription links at www.secdealer.com.